EVERETT – A special filing period will be opened next week for candidates to complete the remaining term of Court of Appeals Judge Faye Kennedy, who died last week following a long illness.
Snohomish County elections manager Carolyn Diepenbrock said those interested in the job can file Sept. 21-23 in the auditor’s office. They also can file online with the secretary of state’s office, www.vote.wa.gov, she said.
Those who file will appear on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. It will be a winner-take-all contest, no matter how many candidates apply.
Whoever gets the most votes will serve the five years remaining on Kennedy’s term, Diepenbrock said.
Only candidates from Snohomish County can apply. Kennedy was one of two judges from Snohomish County on the court’s Division 1. The division has 10 judges.
Ironically, Kennedy took office after Judge Herbert Swanson retired during his term. His retirement came too late to get names on a primary election. Kennedy garnered 40 percent of the vote among four candidates.
If she had lived until the end of September, it would have been too late to get names on the November ballot, Diepenbrock said. If that had happened, the governor would have appointed someone to serve until the next general election in 2006.
Kennedy, 63, was elected in 1990.
Colleague Judge Bill Baker called her a pioneer. She was the county’s second woman lawyer, the first in the Snohomish County prosecutor’s office. When she was elected to the Everett District Court bench in 1970, she was the county’s first woman judge.
A public memorial service for Kennedy is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sept. 28 at the Everett Golf and Country Club, 1500 52nd St. SE, Everett.
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